This holiday weekend being the one upon which we give a split second’s thought to the Victorians before getting on with the important business of gardening, breaking out the croquet set or planning that first backyard barbecue menu, here’s my short list of greats in no particular order.

This list probably won’t jibe with yours, superstars of the Victorian Era filling whole constellations on different continents in the arts, sciences, philosophy, political, religious and social movements.

Charles Darwin — Misunderstood and vilified by ignorant religious bigots, his great work The Origin of Species by Natural Selection has been described as the most important scientific concept in human history, providing an elegant method of understanding the processes which shape — and continue to shape — all life on the planet.

Rabindranath Tagore — Educated at an English public school before returning to manage a vast family estate in what’s now Bangladesh late in Queen Victoria’s reign, he proved a brilliant polymath. Both poet and philosopher, he has been called the sub-continent’s greatest modern writer. His works inspired and transformed the literature of South Asia. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, the first non-European to do so.

Rudyard Kipling — First writer born in India to win a Nobel Prize in Literature — and the youngest ever to win it — he’s often dismissed for the colonial and imperialist values embedded in his work. But his books endure because, although he was created by the empire into which he was born, he refashioned the short story as an art form and his narrative genius created a compassionate prism through which his times can be experienced and understood.

Nikola Tesla — Thomas Edison is the big name in the history books, but this Croatian-born electrical engineer who quit his job with Edison when the great man failed to come through with a promised bonus, invented and designed much of the technological infrastructure which makes possible the vast electrical energy grids which power our planet of the 21st century.

Mary Ann Evans — Author of what some say may be the greatest English novel “for grown ups.” Middlemarch is a sprawling, complex construction of braided narratives, multiple plot lines and many richly devised characters. They bring to life a small provincial town in the throes of social upheaval during the Industrial Revolution. She wrote under the pseudonym George Eliot and yes, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky are all literary geniuses, too.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson — He succeeded William Wordsworth, dean of a pantheon of Romantic poets which includes Byron, Shelley and Keats — big boots to fill — yet he served as Queen Victoria’s poet laureate for 40 years. The stunning breadth, scope and accessibility of his poetry, which breathed new life into traditional British stories like the Arthurian cycles while mocking militarist follies in poems like Charge of the Light Brigade, both made him a national hero and exemplified the Victorian Age.

Karl Marx — Like his theories deconstructing capitalism or not, he remains the most influential writer on political economy of all time, cited by scholars more often than Aristotle, William Shakespeare, Biblical authors or many of the brilliant but, by comparison, lesser lights. He lived poor, thought big, loved his wife and family deeply and was loved by children for making fleets of paper boats, floating them in a tub for a mock naval battle — and then lighting them on fire!

Robert Louis Stevenson — In an age that produced some of the greatest of children’s literature — think Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Water Babies, Black Beauty, A Book of Nonsense, The Jungle Book and Peter Pan (yes, I know the latter was produced in 1904 but it’s still Victorian) — the author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and A Child’s Garden of Verses still ranks among the most translated and beloved authors in the world.

John William Waterhouse — His painting of St. Eulalia, victim of Diocletian’s persecution, lying on snowy flagstones among pigeons, brown hair flared like a halo in the foreground, her body partly covered by what looks like a hastily thrown soldier’s cloak, one white bird fluttering up, two disinterested Roman soldiers, observers in the background lamenting against the austere marble columns and pillars of the state. Wow.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.